Knocking out......bad habits!

Certain habits can be horribly destructive to your mind, body, and way of life. Breaking a bad habit can be very hard for a lot of people. Most of the time we form our own habits that are negative and sometimes have life-threatening consequences. Webster defines a HABIT as a "customary pattern behavior/ a usual way of behaving." A habit can be conscious or subconscious behavior. The conscious mind is critical and analytical, it thinks and rationalizes your behaviors. Causing you to weigh the good, the bad, and the consequences of each. Your subconscious mind is automatic and habitual. It does not think or reason, your behavior is simply what you've been conditioned to do, like a robot.

The first step to stopping a bad habit is to make a conscious decision that you are going to change and won't allow anything to stop you. You must decide that you want to live a better quality of life. Do not listen to the negative people in your life saying, "you will always be the same, you can't change." People will try to push how they feel about themselves onto you. Never listen to someone who has not made a conscious decision to change their quality of life. Misery loves company and if you open the door misery will politely come into your life, sit down and get comfortable.

You may feel ashamed from past negative habits and mistakes you've made. These thoughts and feelings can become a mental trap. Causing you to fool yourself into thinking you don't deserve a better quality of life. You cannot allow those negative thoughts to make your life more complicated. Acknowledge the fact that you fucked up. Now, make the choice to learn from the mistake and keep it moving. Acknowledge, learn, and move on.

Once you've determine that you're going to make changes in your life and keep a positive mind set, you can begin on step two. Write down a list of pros and cons on why you want to change your life and bad habits, and keep the list in the back of your mind. Start making positive connections with the habits and behaviors you want to have in your life.

Last, you must get rid of ALL negative people in your life. Negative energy is tiresome and can lead to frustration when things are not happening as fast as you would like them to. You don't want people around you that are consistently focused on what can't be done. Positive energy will focus on your growth and progression. People will begin to feed off your positive energy and it will grant you the opportunity to connect with other positive people easily. They can help you concentrate on what can be done and offer suggestions or alternative ways to accomplish your goals. You will need to be motivated, encouraged, and empowered to move forward. Negative and positive energy is very infectious and has the ability to spread like a wild fire. So you must make a conscious decision on what type of fuel YOU add to the wild fire. Will it be negative or positive, the choice is yours???

If you have any habits that put your health or life at risk please seek immediate help or counseling. It is okay, to seek help to learn how to remove bad habits and negative people out of your life. Surround yourself with people who believe in you and support you. But first YOU have to believe in YOU.

Here's an example of words of encouragement to get you started on practicing positive thinking and self-empowerment:"I am not perfect, I have made mistakes, but I've learned from my mistakes. I love who I am and I love that there is no one like me. I am worthy of love and will continue to strive for greatness. God has a purpose for my life. I will find my purpose and dedicate my life to fulfilling it."